Counting My Blessings.

  On my way to school there is a tree that blocks the sun from blinding me at one of the stop lights I have to go through. When I used to ride with Scottie that tree was not as tall and did blind us. Just like we grew up so did that tree. It's amazing to me how in the blink of an eye I have turned 16 going on 17, I'm in my junior year of high school, I am looking at colleges, and life is moving along so fast. My parents and grandparents always tell me to not wish my life away but it gets so easy to pass through life without looking around to see how blessed I am.  My favorite author often talks about the land of if only. It gets so easy to live in the land of if only. If only I had more clothes. If only I could sleep in for fifteen minutes. If only I could do this or do that or have this or have that. When in reality I am so blessed to live where I do and have the people I do in my life. I have amazing parents who bring out the best in me. I have a pesky older brother who knows exactly how to push every button I have but make me smile bigger than anyone else can. My youth group and church family are so important to me. I have the best friends a girl could ask for. Through all this "growing up" I am doing I need to remember to stop and love the little things. I love the things as simple as harmonies, a vanilla scented candle, a pretty cupcake, or a big fluffy blanket. I am so so so incredibly thankful for everyone I am surrounded with and have in my life. So to you, yes you, you had some influence on my life so thank you. I feel like around this time of year it gets so easy to forget about how blessed we are. I am trying to really take time and just be happy and thankful. There are so many people that I can include in this. If you aren't on here that doesn't mean that I am not thankful for you. 

                                                        

                                                     

    

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Beauty Revue 2014

     This year I participated in the 2014 Beauty Revue and it was so much fun. I can honestly say that every single girl who participated looked absolutely stunning. It was amazing to see all of the girls just be so supportive of each other and being so encouraging to each other before we went on stage. I received so many compliments and lovely text messages and it all made me feel so loved. Thank you to everyone who has commented on my Instagram and my Facebook. You all have made me feel so special.  Bless my mothers heart for putting up with me all through this. I may have gone a little pageant crazy. Emily Hayes did my hair and makeup and did an AMAZING job. Thanks Em! My intentions going into Beauty Revue was to gain confidence in myself. It really was a great time with my friends.  

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Fall, Football, and Family Time.

     Oh what a wonderful time of year it is. We are now on the downward slope to Christmas people. November 1st marked Christmas music time and you best believe that I was jamming to Mariah Carey singing All I Want For Christmas Is You.  I thought  I would share some pictures from the past few weekends including a trips to the grove, the pumpkin patch, and a nature walk/"hike" Anna and I went on. This is just basically going to be a big catch up fall post. Hope you enjoy!

Nana finally came to the grove!

My number one supporter of my blog. ily Rachel

5 of 12 of the Davis side of our cousins.
(from left to right)
Will Ballinger, me, Andrew Davis, Anne Claire Ballinger, and Jackson Ballinger. 

Dena at the pumpkin patch. (above and below)

Fall selfie because I can. 

Anna in nature.

God's beautiful creation. Taken at Plymouth Bluff walking trails. 

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Dedicated to My Mama.

     I have to admit. I have the best mom in the world. She dances around the living room with me. She cleans my room for no reason at all. She does everything in her power to make me happy. Yes I am 16 and we don't always get along but for the most part we do. So mom, thank you. You are truly inspirational to me. You are always sending me motivation even on days when you may not be feeling motivated yourself. For all the times I didn't thank you, either because I was too young, too busy, or just didn't find the words, today I want to thank you for all you've done for me. Now that I am older, I realize more and more everything you do, everything you give, and most importantly everything you stand for. You always put everyone else's need before yourself. You have raised Scottie and I to try our hardest. Even though we don't respond in the family group chat we love you very much. Thanks for putting up with spoiled ungrateful, messy, bratty child like my sibling. Happy Birthday Mommy. I love you to the moon and back.
xoxo, Your favorite child.

Best Day Of My Life

     It finally happened. 280 days of waiting. One of the last concerts. 70,000 people. 5 boys. One Direction. Holy cow, and wasn't it just one of the best days of my life.  So I along with Hannah Frances and Anna got one direction tickets for Christmas December of 2013. So yes, the wait was so long. It seemed so surreal to me that at that time in 280 days I would be seeing the biggest "boyband" in the world. It was honestly so much fun. It didn't seem real that we were actually there. I laughed, cried, screamed, and was very emotionally unstable. It really was one of the best days of my life. All of our moms accompanied us to the concert. Boy weren't they in for a surprise with all of those fangirls. We got to the concert probably an hour early and around 45 minutes before the opening act, a band I am also in love with, came out they started to play music videos and commercial type things. So Hannah, Anna, and I knowing that we had plenty of time to go to the bathroom got up and went. So we go and make our way through the obscene amount of teenage girls and go to the bathroom. Well as we were coming out the whole stadium just becomes an uproar of screaming girls. We all look at each other very wide eyed and run to our seats to see what the commotion was about. Well you see, they were playing the One Direction perfume commercial and that caused quite the fuss. So we calmed ourselves down and waited for the concert to start. You should also know that they played that commercial probably 5 more times. You would think that One Direction came out to play every time it happened. Needless to say it was an amazing night that I will remember forever. Thanks mommy and daddy. Love you both.

Getting ready for the concert. 

Preconcert selfie with mommy.

our moms selfie game = strong

 

Walking to the stadium

My mom took a picture of us right when the band came out. As you can see we were all a little more than excited. 

We were all a little bit more than sad when the concert was over. My mom happened to capture the moment we were all sitting on a curb in front of Papa Johns. 

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Ole Miss vs Memphis Game

This week was our weekend to do our tailgate. A.k.a. this weekend was very stressful but fun none the less. So I asked Anna if she wanted to come with us on this trip to Oxford. She said yes, so Friday afternoon we headed up to Oxford. See here is the thing with this new blog I have been doing, I decided to take our family's high quality camera. It was a very good decision and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to take all of the pictures you will see. That brings me to my next point, I not only took pictures but I took some videos. So, of course, I made a little iMovie that I would love for you to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_3JmCgM-zQ&feature=youtu.be

I have such great friends up in Oxford and so to get to hang out with them and Anna all in the same place just made my heart very happy. I got to be reunited with my friends from the Happening and I even saw Swayze Harris in The Grove which came as quite a surprise to me. I do love the University of Mississippi almost as much as I love tailgate food. Feel free to leave me a comment on my Facebook, on the blog, or tweet me! Thanks for reading!

First College Visit

           I am growing up and it is terrifying. I went on my first college visit this past weekend and holy cow how is that even a possibility.  I can't imagine that this time next year I will be a senior in high school. Anna invited me to go with her for a college visit at Louisiana Tech. I was very excited as I had only ever been to Ole Miss to tailgate but never actually toured a college. I also had never been to Louisiana so lots of first. We stayed with Anna's grandparents and had a day full of events planned for Saturday. We woke up and went to the Duck Commander warehouse. I didn't find John Luke and that was pretty sad but it was the perfect opportunity for social media worthy pictures.                                                                               

 So we then proceeded to go hang out with Anna's siblings until it was time to go to Time Out for Tech, the event we would be attending. We started off at registration and then took a tour of the campus. Then we got to go to the bookstore and get some LA Tech merchandise. To end our Tech experience, the schools band played and we sat around and watched that. We then went to Anna's brother's house and grilled out. We ended the day by going to the football game against the Northwestern State University Demons. Tech lost but it was a good game to watch. It was a grand time so thanks to Anna and her family for taking
me. I still can't believe I am old enough to be going on college visits. It is all so surreal to me.

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